"Wait 'til next year!" (1938, at least, for Brooklyn Dodgers)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Mon, 6 Jun 2005 03:33:21 -0400, bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

>http://www.barrypopik.com/article/980/wait-til-next-year-brooklyn-dodgers
>...
>Anybody got a "wait until next year," with/without the Brooklyn Dodgers?
>I can't check the Sporting News on this computer.

Looks like the expression was once associated with the Washington
Senators, but even a century ago it was an old joke.

-----
Washington Post, Sep 29, 1903, p. 8
The Senators could do nothing in the next two innings.
"Wait till next year."
-----
Washington Post, Oct 7, 1906, p. S1
BASEBALL YEAR ENDS ... Manager Stahl Again Speaks of Washington Club's
Success -- Says Team Received Splendid Support, and Winds Up with "Wait
Until Next Year."
...
And with a smile, the Senators' manager sprung the old gag: "Wait until
next year."
-----

(The hapless Senators would eventually win the World Series in 1924, plus
two more pennants in 1925 and 1933.  And now Washington finally has a
first-place team again!)



--Ben Zimmer